A Midsummer's Equation

TEN

Sweat trickled down the DESMEC development manager’s face despite a blast of cold from the air conditioner right above him. He wiped at his forehead with a handkerchief before lifting the microphone again. “Like I said, we need to do more studies before we know what effect this will have on the plankton. Admittedly, if we dig into the seafloor, it will affect the food chain. What we need to do is find out exactly how large an effect it will have, then—”

“But what if your survey has an effect? What then? That’s what I want to know. Who’s gonna take responsibility if we can’t catch any fish?” The man shouting at the stage was a local fisherman, thick arms protruding from his T-shirt sleeves.

“I’m sorry, if we could all calm down,” said a haggard-looking man off to the side of the stage. Today, they had a public relations manager from city hall acting as emcee, and the two hours of heated debate that morning had already worn his voice down to a croak. “DESMEC hasn’t finished explaining their position here, so let’s hear what they have to say, and then raise hands to speak. Please? I hate to repeat myself, but I really need everyone to follow these basic rules of order.”

The development manager from DESMEC brandished his mic again. “We’ve already done a little excavation, and, thus far, have seen no significant effects. Of course, we will be slowly scaling up operations—”

“What do you mean, already started? Who gave you permission to do that?” another voice shouted.

“What are you talking about?” a man in a suit sitting near Narumi said, standing. “Of course they already started their survey—that’s how they knew there’s rare metals out there in the first place. You don’t need permission to do a survey.”

“Hey, whose side are you on?” the man in the T-shirt growled back.

“No one’s side. Not until I hear more. That’s why I came. Enough with the fish, already. I want to hear what DESMEC plans to do for local business.”

“Enough with the fish? Enough with you! You ever—”

“Excuse me, people, please!” the emcee spoke loudly into his mic, his eyebrows furrowed into a consternated V. “If we could stop right there. Raise your hands, people. Then talk. That’s how this works.”

The first public debate on hydrothermal ore mining in Japan wasn’t going smoothly. With the exception of a handful people, no one in the room really knew enough about the topic to have a meaningful conversation. Even Narumi was frustrated with how little she understood of the issues, despite weeks of research.

That, and she was finding it difficult to focus on anything being discussed. Her mind kept wandering back to the day before, when her eyes had met Tsukahara’s. Had he nodded to her? Was she just imagining things? She’d hoped to learn something about him when she went to the police station with her mother the day before, but the police only asked them questions and told them nothing.

Narumi’s eyes went to Yukawa, sitting up on stage with the people from DESMEC. He had several papers spread out on the table in front of him, but the look on his face said he wasn’t paying attention to any of it. He’s not even wearing his glasses.

The meeting finally adjourned forty minutes past schedule. Everyone on stage stayed in their chairs, looking stunned with exhaustion. Everyone except Yukawa, who quickly gathered his things and strode from the room.

“Well, I guess that’s that,” Sawamura said, standing up and stretching. “At least we got them to agree to another hearing. I’ll consider that a victory.”

“But they’re not going to release any of their data on deep-sea organisms,” Narumi complained. “I don’t buy that they’re still ‘prepping’ it, whatever that means. I was hoping you’d say something during the Q and A.”

Sawamura slid his informational handouts into his bag and shrugged. “I thought about it. But then the topic shifted to fishing. I guess I just missed my timing.”

An unusual slip for someone like Sawamura, a veteran of this kind of debate, Narumi thought. She took it as a sign that this issue was far more complex than anything they’d dealt with before.

“By the way,” Sawamura said, turning to her and lowering his voice as they left the auditorium. “How are things at the inn?”

“What do you mean?”

“I heard about your guest. Small town, word travels fast.”

“Oh, that. It was such a surprise.”

“The police have anything to say about it?”

“Not much. They don’t really know what happened yet. Other than the obvious, that is—that he got drunk and fell.”

“Huh. You gotta wonder why he climbed onto the seawall in the first place. You think it was suicide?”

“Not really. I mean, it’s only a drop of five meters or so there. If you were going to commit suicide, wouldn’t you jump from someplace a little higher?”

“Yeah, good point,” Sawamura muttered back.

* * *

Outside the community center, Narumi said good-bye and got on her bike. Shortly after she began pedaling up the coastal road, she spotted a tall man up ahead, walking along the side of the road. She slowed down and called out, “Too quick, Mr. Yukawa.”

He stopped and turned around. “Hey,” he said, a little weakly. “What’s too quick?”

“You, standing up and leaving the stage before anyone else.”

“You noticed.”

“I also noticed that you weren’t wearing your glasses. It looked like you’d pretty much checked out.”

“I was mourning the loss of a perfectly good day spent listening to that pointless debate.” Yukawa started to walk again, so Narumi got down off her bicycle and starting walking alongside him.

“Going back to the inn? Why not take a taxi?”

“Because I’ve decided that the taxis in this town are useless. You see them drive by all the time when you don’t need them, but when you need them, there’s not a single one to be found.”

“I’m surprised you thought that debate was pointless,” Narumi said. “I thought everyone was very engaged.”

“The DESMEC people just wanted to have on record the fact that they held a hearing, and the opposition was just whining. That’s not a debate. It’s a waste of time.”

“You think asking that the environment be protected is whining?”

“It is when you expect them to adopt some mythical flawless plan offering perfect environmental protection. Nothing’s perfect in this world,” Yukawa said, his pace quickening. Narumi had to trot to keep up.

“We’re not asking them to do anything. We’re asking them to not destroy the environment. It’s not like they have to go out of their way to help. They just have to avoid doing anything stupid.”

“And who decides what’s stupid? You?”

Narumi stopped in her tracks, but Yukawa kept walking. She stood there glaring at his back for a moment before getting on her bike again. Jamming down the pedals, she sped past him, then stopped up ahead, turning back to look at him.

The physicist met her eyes. “Still eager to debate?” he asked. “The meeting’s adjourned.”

She glared at him a moment, then sighed and made a big smile. “You’re still in town for a while, aren’t you, Mr. Yukawa?”

“Until I’m done helping with the survey boat, yes.”

“Then, there’s a place I want to show you. Can you dive?”

“Excuse me?”

“Scuba diving. Ever been?”

Yukawa stiffened, a look of alarm in his eyes. “It might surprise you, but I do have my license.”

“Excellent,” Narumi said. “Then let’s go diving, soon.”

“Is that the place you want to show me? The ocean?”

“Is there any other place we’ve been talking about all day?”

“No, now that you mention it. I’d be happy to go if the opportunity presents itself.”

“It will. That’s a promise.” Narumi put her foot on one pedal and began to push. She couldn’t wait to see the physicist’s face when he saw what was out there under the waters of Hari Cove.